Biometrics pilots, launches and investments foreshadow next areas for growth

Biometrics pilots, a patent, predictions and acquisitions paint a picture in the most popular news items of the week on Biometric Update of an industry gearing up for growth as interest rates decline. A trial of Malaysia’s biometric border control system with three new apps was successful, Global ID has expanded its IP to include a biometric credential device, and panels at Identity Week discussed advances just ahead in technology and standards. Unico’s acquisitions of Oz Forensics and Trully recall the investment binge that occurred during the last period of low rates. Investments are also bearing fruit in post-coup Burkina Faso, where new passports made by Emptech are launching, in Mauritius, where the first ISO-compliant digital ID wallet is launching with help from Thales, and in Brazil, where Infant.ID trials are expanding.

Top biometrics news of the week

Burkina Faso has introduced a new biometric passport, produced by Emptech and differing from the previous generation in that the country withdrew from ECOWAS at the beginning of the year. The situation represents an interesting test case in how much trust is bestowed by the passports themselves, given that prior to leaving the regional bloc, Burkinabè passports and ID cards enabled visa-free travel to other ECOWAS member nations.

A biometric border control system deployed by Malaysia at the Johor-Singapore maritime border and associated crossing points has graduated from the pilot stage. The pilot involved three mobile apps, one of which includes face biometrics. Meanwhile at Singapore’s Changi Airport, the biometric system supplied by Idemia is catching more people attempting to enter the country fraudulently than the legacy manual system.

Identity Week panels explored the biometrics innovations and advances on the horizon, with one consisting of Stephanie Schuckers of CITER and representatives of U.S. Border Patrol, FBI CJIS and Iris ID delved into how different modalities are used. Another, featuring SAIC, DHS S&T, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Biometrics Guru and ROC pointed out areas that remain for improvement despite the massive strides taken in recent years, while OBIM Futures Identity’s Will Graves laid out agencies’ roadmap for aligning image quality assessment. Digital ID interoperability, biometrics startups and facial recognition at sports venues were also among the highlight presentations at Identity Week.

Global ID has won a European patent for its BioID Security Protocol, which consists of a scannable, tamper-resistant device used as a digital identity credential. The protocols described in the patent do not disclose digital evidence the way passports do, and has been implemented in a proof of concept with finger vein biometrics. Also on vein recognition, a research paper scanning suggests improving illumination to improve matching performance.

Brazil-based selfie biometrics provider Unico has capped an acquisition spree with deals for Oz Forensics and Trully.AI. The moves give Unico a broader portfolio of proprietary technology and a stronger market position in Latin America, and Unico expects to make more deals.

Mauritius is launching a digital ID with Thales’ technology for use with its digital wallet app. The MWA digital wallet app, loaded with the country’s new Mobile ID, represents the first in Africa based on ISO standards, officials say, and will allow Mauritanians to access a range of public and private sector services.

ConnectID Managing Director Andrew Black makes in a Biometric Update guest post the case that gradual and decentralized implementation of bilateral agreements and consortia is the path to global interoperability of digital IDs. This is because of the different technical standards at play and the lack of unified international legal frameworks.

ACI is pushing to reinstated as the supplier of the Philippines’ national digital ID cards and blamed the central bank, which is managing the contract, for causing the delays in production. A think tank and the Senate Minority Leader want an investigation into the termination, while banks say the lack of digital signature on the cards make them unreliable anyway.

Parts of a Texas law putting age verification rules in place have been defeated in court, with social media restrictions ruled to violate the Constitutional right to free speech. The AVPA says the path forward for online protection of children is becoming clearer in the U.S., while the Supreme Court prepares to take the case.

Winners have been announced in the Global Media Deepfake Detection Challenge, which was managed in large part by Ant Group subsidiary Zoloz. A solo developer and a team of academic researchers from Hong Kong and Macau won the challenge’s two tracks with tools that could be used to mitigate the threat of deepfakes.

Brazil is considering setting up an infant biometrics system at the country’s hospitals to fight a persistent child trafficking problem, and Infant.ID is bringing a second-generation fingerprint scanner specially designed for the job to a large upcoming conference. Product testing is underway at 13 hospitals, with more on the way.

Among an interesting crop of industry interviews this week includes Suprema Founder and Chairman James Lee answering questions from The Worldfolio about the company’s balance between domestic and foreign business and addressing privacy concerns. Crypto News Flash details Andrew Keys’ journey from Ethereum and SSI advocacy with ConsenSys to guiding institutional investors on blockchain with Darma Capital. Prembly Co-founder and COO Niyi Adegboye discusses KYC regulation fragmentation in West Africa  with Bendada.com, and Chris Briggs of Mitek and Tim Berners-Lee talk optimism about the impact of EU Digital Identity Wallets with The Next Web.

If you see an interview, podcast or other content we should share with those in biometrics and the digital identity community, please tell us about it through the comments below or social media.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  week in review